Another element of the housing crisis is coming to light. The federal prosecutor in Sacramento says his office is discovering more and more cases of mortgage fraud.

McGregor Scott is the U-S Attorney for the Eastern District of California. He says his office is seeing increasing numbers of fraud cases involving mortgages. He tells of one man who is now in prison who was offering help to homeowners in danger of foreclosure.

“And in the stack of documents he would ask people to sign in order to refinance the home he would slip in a quit claim deed, deeding the house to himself, so literally stealing people’s houses…”

Scott says crimes being prosecuted by his office involve all aspects of the industry including lenders, brokers and appraisers. The crimes often deal with falsifying documents. A former President of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers says to avoid problems consumers should look for a broker who’s been in the business for several years, who is in professional associations and has state licensing.